Lockheed AC-130
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Lockheed AC-130

Lockheed AC-130 Spectre

 

Lockheed AC-130 Specter is a heavily armed ground forces aircraft. The base for this model is a transport aircraft C-130 firm Lockheed. Installation of additional equipment and weapons involved in the company "Boeing". Actively used in the Vietnam War.

Lockheed AC-130

Purpose of the aircraft are as follows:

  • close air support to troops in the field;
  • patrols and destruction of enemy communications;
  • strikes against predetermined ground and air enemy targets;
  • ensuring the defense of strategic sites and their bases.

Work on the creation of the most powerful battleship of the heavenly program "Ganship" started in 1965, the US Air Force wanted "Ganship" with the increase in the take-off weight, the duration of the flight cruising speed and heavily armed.

The most suitable platform to provide military transport aircraft Lockheed C-130. On conversion of the command of the Air Force was isolated unit C-130 tail number 54-1626. Its equipped with the following weapons: four modules MXU-470 and four guns "Volcano" 20 mm caliber. The plane got night vision equipment, which included an analog board computers, radar and powerful searchlights.

Lockheed AC-130

Flight tests of the aircraft began to Eglin air bases and Wright-Patterson summer of 1967

Until September, a number of improvements were made to the apparatus and transported to the Nyatrang base. 27.09.1967/9/9 made the first combat sortie of the battleship. Major Terry is in charge of the flight. Until November 1967, "Super Spooky" (this is the nickname the armed aircraft received) flew several sorties to provide fire support for ground forces. On the night of October XNUMX, XNUMX, the aircraft conducted a combat mission to defeat trucks on the Ho Chi Minh trail. Having reached the destination, six vehicles were identified, all of which were successfully defeated by targeted air fire.

The successful combat start of the Super Spooks over the trail contributed to the decision to build new battleships based on C-130. Only the new aircraft to re-equip weapons, the US Air Force command regretted, and the Ling-Temko-Voot factory where the modernization was carried out, received seven already operated JC-130A. All of them were problematic and had far from perfect technical condition. Already during the third flight on a serial airplane "Hercules" in 1957, a fire occurred. Although the car and managed to land, but the wing had to be completely changed. In 1960, JC-130A carried out modifications and checked the efficiency of its radar for missile research. Re-equipment it in the AU-130A was held in 1970. For such a respectable age, he was nicknamed "Festa Lady", despite the fact that he was not the first of the family of AS-130. This aircraft served a long period of time, it was written off from combat duty only in autumn 1995

Lockheed AC-130 video

The first converted vehicle from JC-130 was placed at the disposal of the Air Force in the summer of 1968. In Vietnam, it was sent six months later. It had the same set of weapons as the Vulcan Express, but instead of a primitive infrared night vision system, they installed the best AN / AAD-4 and a stronger fire control computer system. Officially, the aircraft began to be called AS-130 "Plane Jane". Three more AC-130A were sent to Vietnam before the end of the year. The remaining three aircraft remained in the United States, at the Eglin airbase, where they trained crews preparing for military operations. In May 1969, they were redirected to the Ubon (Thailand) base, from which combat sorties were sent to Vietnam. All eight AS-130A units that were in the combat zone differed in the exterior and interior, which caused problems with maintenance.

Lockheed AC-130

Ninth AC 130A was distilled from the plant at Wright-Patterson AFB for testing to create a more modern "Ganshina" program "Surprise Pekkadzh." He spent two replacement 20-mm guns on Single-barrel machine guns "Bofors". The composition of avionics began to enter the TV system AN / ASQ-145, a laser rangefinder-tseleukazatelel. Analog onboard computers replaced by digital.

The program "Peyv Pronto" US Air Force entered into a contract with the company "LTV" of redeveloping another nine aircraft C-130. All were to receive a system of "Black Crow", capable of pinpoint operation of automobile engines, power of enemy air defenses and electronic warfare equipment.

Of the eight AU-130A aircraft during the conflicts in Southeast Asia, six survived. They were sent to the States for the equipment according to the criteria "Peyv pronto." The main task of the AS-130A was night hunting ground transportation plying the "Ho Chi Minh Trail." Battleships AU-130 16-armed special purpose squadron, which was based on Ubon Air Base. Perform regular flights began in 1969-1970 years.

Successful steel 1970-1971 years. Then there were the broken and damaged the car 12 741 opponent. But this figure is conditional, since more than 5 thousand. Wrecked cars attributed to his military achievements crews of other aircraft that conducted patrols trails.

Lockheed AC-130

Aircraft AC-130 conducted combat missions only in the dry season, because during the rains washed away roads and transport links between Laos and South Vietnam ceased. Each plane cruised over the path for about four hours. Target detection performed by the "Black Crow" system verifies the location of the IR and TV, then the crew tried as soon as possible to perform aiming.

It was possible to shoot to kill both manually and in automatic mode. The problem was the definition of damage to the enemy battleships machines. According to statistics, some trucks after a meeting with aviasnaryadami issued weapons from the complex AC 130A could start immediately and go.

Lockheed AC-130

Often, the Lockheed AC-130 flew combat missions in conjunction with the RC-130S aircraft, on which 28 searchlights were installed. This group conducted night patrols of the trail.

During the Vietnam military conflict, the crews of these aircraft were crouching to avoid the oncoming fire from ground-based anti-aircraft installations, but there was not enough maneuverability from ground-to-air missiles. Even then it became clear that it was time to print Spectra out of this zone. But the daily successes in the form of the defeat of dozens of trucks did not allow the leadership of the US Air Force to take drastic measures. In the first decade of the 1971 year, over 2,5 thousand enemy trucks were destroyed, yet another amount was damaged. A tough rebuff to US aggression was given 31 March and 1 April 1951 r, when anti-aircraft guns shot down two US very expensive battleships.

Lockheed AC-130 Specter began to be transferred to other points with a less dense concentration of enemy air defense. In particular, they were used to defeat Vietnamese tanks during the protection of An Locke. However, even here the battleships were unable to make a good resistance. The enemy by that time had the Strela missile system available. Thanks to him, the communists shot down three AC-130 aircraft. But the flights continued until the end of the war.

Lockheed AC-130

From the military conflict in the US returned home to ten aircraft, which were aimed at the airbase Halbart Field. The war took away the life of 52 people who were a part of the crew of "Ganshipov."

Lockheed AC-130 characteristics:

 



Modification   AC-130A
Wingspan, m   40.41
Aircraft Length m   29.79
Height, m   11.66
Wing area, m2   162.12
Weight, kg  
  empty aircraft   26911
  maximum take-off   56336
Domestic fuel, kg   20520
engine's type   4 HDD Allison T-56-A-11
Power, hp   X 4 4050
Maximum speed km / h   580
Cruising speed, km / h   333
The combat speed, km / h   270
Practical range, km   1700
Combat range, km   900
Fighting height, m   1070-2450
Practical ceiling, m   10060
Crew   11
Armament:   four 7.62-mm machine guns and four 20-mm guns

 

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